On Monday morning, yet another sign of Huntsville’s rapid growth trajectory appeared with the celebration of a groundbreaking celebration for The Arcadia at 4810 Bradford Drive, located on the corner of Wynn Drive and Bradford Drive across from the new Alabama School of Cyber Technology and Engineering (ASCTE) in Cummings Research Park.

When complete, the six-story mixed-use development will feature 19,047 square feet of commercial ground floor space, split between 12,022 square feet of workshare/office space and 7,025 square feet of restaurant and retail space. Floors 2-5 will consist of 250 residential units, comprised of one- and two-bedroom apartments and studios.

Arcadia is being developed by Bobo Family Group, Retail Specialists, and Boaz Ventures. Capstone Building Corporation has started construction on Arcadia, which is designed and engineered by Williams Blackstock Architects.

Joey Azar, a partner at Boaz Ventures, one of the project developers, said that this is a “23 or 24-month project,” with site work having been underway since July 2022. He anticipates that it will open around Q3 of 2024.

Azar described Arcadia’s future apartments as having “executive high level finishes.” He stated that the six-story building “will add to the mixed-use and urban type of feel here in this area of the park.” He also emphasized the easy access to local businesses, Redstone Arsenal, and Downtown Huntsville as perks of its location.

“Hopefully you can tell by the energy we’re pretty thrilled about being here in Cummings Reserach Park East,” Azar said. “As many of you know, especially if you’re from the area, Wynn and Bradford is a pretty dynamic corner. It’s a great piece of real estate and we’re excited about creating 250 new residences for those that work here and around the Park, and adding some office, retail, and other commercial [spaces] as well.”

“We couldn’t have picked a better city for it…ever since Senator John Sparkman brought Wernher von Braun to Huntsville in 1950, local leaders have continuously come together to carry on a legacy that’s made Huntsville great, and in doing so has delivered a better quality of life, higher-paying jobs, and more opportunities for the people of North Alabama as well as people of the world,” said James Bobo, CEO of Bobo Family Group.

“Having neighbors like ASCTE, Lockheed Martin, Redstone Federal Credit Union, Blue Origin, and HudsonAlpha, Huntsville couldn’t be more accurately described than as ‘the City of the Future,” he continued.

Mayor Battle noted while that Cummings Research Park came to life 60 years ago, a revisioning took place in the past 10 years that focused on increasing capacity and making it more worker friendly.

“We came up with the idea of urban developments…have places where people can actually live, they have their places to play, but they also have places to work all around,” Battle said.

According to Battle, Arcadia was one of the very first developments to take advantage of the revisioning of Cummings Research Park’s master plan.

“We want to say congratulations to y’all, we are very excited,” he said, describing the new development as “kind of a diamond in the middle of a great workplace, and it’ll be a great place for people to continue to live, work, and play for years and years.”